


Don't Touch the Glass

by mydeira



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 15:45:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydeira/pseuds/mydeira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maggie pays a visit to the Initiative's latest captive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Touch the Glass

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the buffyverse1000.

The man behind the glass was dangerous and unpredictable—he worshipped Chaos after all, the complete antithesis of everything she stood for.  Science shaping the world into controllable order.  Efficiency and predictability.

 

“So this is the illustrious Margaret Walsh,” he smiled, voice rich and cultured.

 

“Dr. Maggie Walsh,” she said with cool businesslike detachment.  She loathed the name Margaret for reasons even she couldn’t quite explain.  “You wished to see me, Mr. Rayne?”

 

“ _Mr._ Rayne?  How proper.  And here I assumed I would be nothing more than a number to you.”  Pleasantly, he added, “You are not at all what I expected, Margaret, much more attractive.

 

Maggie wasn’t certain what annoyed her more, the name or the small thrill of pleasure elicited by the comment intended to get a rise out of her.

 

“If you have nothing worth-while to say, I have other things to attend to,” she said, turning on her heels to leave.

 

“Of course you do, Margaret.  314 is more trouble than you expected, is he not?”  Rayne said the comment as if it were of no more importance than the weather.  How had he come to know about 314?  It could be a bluff, but she couldn’t take the chance.

 

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

 

“It is surprising that a woman such as yourself would have to take such drastic measures.  Scorned one too many times?” a flash of white teeth.

 

“I would be very careful of the accusations I made, Mr. Rayne.  I can assure you that it is not in your best interest to be making such comments, however idle.  The government has a higher standard than you are used to dealing with,” she said evenly, wielding the only power she really did have.  It had been a mistake to come down here in the first place.  Fortunately, it was not a mistake she would be paying for.  She repressed a smile at the thought of the fate that awaited this cock-sure man before her.

 

“Yes, I am quite aware of those standards,” his tone was flat, “as well as what you intend to do to me.  I have my sources, don’t I?  How else could I know about your precious creation that is 314?”

 

Maggie’s eyes narrowed.

 

“I see I have upset you, which I believe signals the end of our amicable discourse,” he gave a dramatic sigh.  “But I wish to give you a sound piece of advice.  More of a warning really.”

 

“Go on.”

 

“You might soon regret not having paid closer attention to your literature courses in college however much of a waste they may have seemed.”

 

“Your point, Mr. Rayne,” she said impatiently.

 

“Just a friendly reminder, Margaret, that the monster always destroys its creator in the end,” he smiled and turned away.

 

She waited, but when there was nothing more, Maggie left Mr. Ethan Rayne to his fate, ignoring the chill his words had given her.  So what of it?  Fiction was exaggeration and fabrication, it was nothing when compared to the wonders of science.  There was no moral purpose to justify in life, no underlying plot dictating one’s actions.

 

Maggie smiled to herself, thinking of the rude awakening Mr. Rayne would soon receive at the hands of science.

 


End file.
